Arsenal should channel the spirit of 2005

Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2005

A year after winning the Premier League with some breathtaking attacking football Arsenal won the FA Cup on penalties after giving one of the most boring and un-Arsène defensive displays ever. Were it not an FA Cup final this game would have been swiftly forgotten by the Arsenal faithful it was that unmemorable.

Watching Arsenal play Mourinho-esque football, as a Gooner, is like have your toenails pulled but in this instance it might be torture worth bearing.

It has been 9 years since Arsenal last won a trophy and simply put, Arsenal cannot make it a decade. They have to win the FA Cup and that means getting past a Wigan side who will thrive on being written off and the knowledge they beat probably the best attacking side in the country, and one with the most depth to boot.

Arsenal should attempt to channel the spirit of 2005 to see out this game. The 2005 lot were not a defensive team but they were winners and the game plan in the 2005 final was do to what was necessary to win the trophy and that is what Arsenal must do now.

If it means going against all we believe in and playing roughhouse football then so be it. This is it, last chance saloon. Arsenal cannot afford to be knocked out of the FA Cup and certainly not to lower league opposition. This is supposed to be the beginning of a new era at Arsenal and we cannot let it slip away so dramatically and spectacularly at the death.

Sadly, Arsenal are not the imposing physical specimens the 2005 group were but we have players with plenty of grit and determination and those qualities will be required in abundance tomorrow.

We need to get in Wigan’s faces from the off and show them we mean business. Arsenal talk about showing respect to the opposition and I can think of no greater way of expressing our respect for Wigan than by simultaneously showing them we consider them a threat but will knock them senseless (proverbially) if they try to get smart with us.

Arsenal in 2005 did exactly that with Manchester United and managed to seal the trophy with the final kick of the ball. Ideally tomorrow will be wrapped up sooner than later but I’ll take a last gasp goal to see us through.